Clarifying Citizenship Attitudes in a Social Studies Lesson

A Qualitative Data Analysis Based on a Pupil-Centred Discussion Diagram

Abstract

 　This study tried to clarify how pupils acquired citizenship attitudes in the classroom.  The participants consisted of sixth graders who attended a social studies lesson in an elementary school (N=33).  The topic of the lesson was the Meiji Restoration.  Four pupils were chosen as the targets for research.  In an attempt to fully describe the interrelationship of opinions delivered by and exchanged between the target pupils (N=4) and other pupils, a ‘Pupil-Centred Discussion Diagram’ (PCDD) was constructed based on a critical review of past research findings.  The PCDD was then used to investigate the pupils’ acquisition of citizenship attitudes on the basis of categories of citizenship attitude components.  The results indicated the following:  (1) in the classroom, the pupils were allowed to feel the ‘reality’ of the events during the Meiji Restoration and then put themselves in the Meiji politicians’ situation －the pupils were able to see the ‘sublation’ of conflicting opinions on the foreign policies of the Meiji Era and to accept the moderator’s judgement through experiencing each sides’ arguments; (2) each of the target pupils was able to acquire some citizenship attitudes, but in varied ways; and (3) the PCDD worked as a powerful tool for grasping the general picture of the target pupils’ and other pupils’ processes of citizenship attitude acquisition and development in a vivid manner.